Dear Reader,
Welcome to this year’s autumn edition of our journal. Once again, and thanks to our contributing authors, we can present you with a very international issue. Whilst we, the editors, may feel a sense of success, our primary focus is on you, the readers of this journal. Our hopes that you will find the articles here relevant for your work, wherever you are located, and whichever clinical material with which you work. The psychotherapeutic endeavour bridges the continents and cultures of this world, and we hope to honour the differences and find ways of learning together and from each other. Only together and united with all our differences, can we succeed in improving access to quality assured psychotherapeutic care and for all sections of our societies.
‘Emotional and mental wellbeing is a human right’ states the ‘European Association for Psychotherapy’ (EAP). This Non-Government Organisation, and its sister organisations in other parts of the world such as the ‘Asian Federation for Psychotherapy’, come together within the ‘World Council for Psychotherapy’ (WCP). Even within the European EAP, the range and diversity of psychotherapists and psychotherapies is impressive. Forty-three European countries and 20 modality approaches, including the body psychotherapies, and we hope that DMP will soon be represented too within this European professional community.
The annual Taylor and Francis publishing report received recently indicates that this journal is contributing to our community of practice. For example, last year, there were over 60k downloads, 27 articles published, a cite score of 1.5, an acceptance rate of 80% and only 10 median days from acceptance to online publication. Our ‘global reach’, which is the publishers’ speak for the numbers of higher education libraries that include this journal, is growing steadily. The annual statistics count not only subscribers and articles downloaded but also their geographical contexts. We rely on such data, and particularly their regional details around the world, to monitor our aims to ensure this journal is relevant to a broad range of body and dance movement psychotherapists around the world. The recent figures are promising but is always room for further steps.
In this issue, our first research article contributes to a non-Eurocentric narrative in somatic movement. It is from Fae Wolf in the United Kingdom and entitled ‘Women of colour and somatic movement: an emerging narrative’. Within somatic literature, the dominant voice has emphasised a Eurocentric world view, the legacy of which has left women of colour under-represented. This article addresses progress already made in the academic sphere and reports on a qualitative study examining eight women of colour and their experiences participating in a somatic movement intervention comprising Authentic Movement, embodied writing, and embodied presence. Findings were examined through thematic analysis and body-based reflection. Themes discovered were: ‘Communality, Home, Solidarity, Sisterhood’, ‘Ancestry-Ritual Space’ and ‘Womanhood, Healing’.
The second research article is entitled ‘Experiencing principles of dance movement therapy practice within transdisciplinary environmental research in South Africa’ and written by an international group of authors from the United Kingdom and South Africa, Athina Copteros, Vicky Karkou and Carolyn Gay Palmer. This presents an exploration of ways in which the principles of dance movement therapy practice identified in an earlier phase of this study informed a short-term group intervention within a transdisciplinary research team that dealt with water resources management. Researchers from a water resources management transdisciplinary environmental research group program in South Africa experience were asked about their participation in a group that adopted selected, culturally sensitive, dance movement therapy principles and practices. Employing hermeneutic phenomenology methodological and interpretative phenomenological analysis it was concluded that principles of dance movement therapy have relevance in multiple and diverse ways within environmental transdisciplinary teams, beyond typical therapy contexts.
Thirdly we have another international research study reporting on ‘Dance/exercise impact for adults with mental health disorders: A systematic review’ by Eunhye and Ki Han Kwon from South Korea. Their study investigated the effect of dance and exercise on the health promotion of adults with mental health disorders. A systematic review was conducted to comprehensively investigate and organise the correlation between physical movement and mental health, and characteristics of dance therapy and exercise. Outcomes demonstrate dance and exercise therapy can help to reduce side effects, relieve depression and anxiety from actual antipsychotics, and help patients to recognise their problems and increase their willingness to be treated. The authors conclude that movement activities impact social determinants of health such as personal behaviour patterns and social isolation.
Three authors from India, Tejali Kunte, Maria Barretto and Nicole D’souza, present their research entitled ‘The effects of a culturally informed dance movement therapy-based community programme for persons with Parkinson’s Disease in India’. This important controlled trial focuses on including culturally relevant Indian dance concepts in developing and evaluating a community-based dance movement therapy (DMT) programme for Parkinson’s. This is the first comparative study on DMT for Parkinson’s with a control group of a physical exercise programme conducted in India. The researcher’s observations, as well as the subjective feedback from participants, suggest that the DMT intervention was more effective in improving positive mood and reducing depression in PD as compared to the control group. This study concludes that culturally informed community based DMT programmes hold promise as a supportive intervention for Parkinson’s disease in India.
Finally, Qinglin Xu, Li Gu and Zijiao Shen from China present the article ‘A working model of dance movement therapy and its application for psychological assistance hotlines’. This novel study explored how embodied movement elements can be applied to the hotline setting for body–mind microinterventions. The authors demonstrate how dance movement therapy based on the body–mind interaction can help clients re-establish their connection with psychological resources, such as creativity and resilience as well as verbal exchange. They propose the CREATE model and explain how it can be used to intervene and realise the basic functions of a psychological hotline service through four case vignettes. This model, the authors conclude, can add new perspectives and options for the provision of a more personalised psychological support compared to traditional hotline assistance.
In the ‘Comments’ section we have Courtney Young’s report on a Body Psychotherapy conference ‘Body & Mind – One Entity: A 2-day Conference/Symposium’. In the ‘Book Reviews’ section we have reviews of three books namely: ‘Dance/movement therapy for trauma survivors: Theoretical, clinical, and cultural Perspectives’ edited by Rebekka Dieterich-Hartwell and Anne Margrethe Melsom; ‘Embodied activism: Engaging the body to cultivate liberation, justice, and authentic connection’ and ‘Body psychotherapy: A theoretical foundation for clinical practice by Ulfried Geuter’.
We hope you enjoy this issue!